THE LEDE: SURVEILLANCE SHOWDOWN ON THE HILL — NSA head Gen. Keith Alexander returns to the Capitol today just as the administration faces scrutiny over its surveillance of friendly foreign leaders, two lawmakers unveil a much-anticipated reform bill and Sen. Intel chief Dianne Feinstein marks up related legislation. Yes, Tuesday brings a surveillance blitz and here's what you need to watch:

— HOW MUCH DID THE WHITE HOUSE KNOW?: The White House and State Department “signed off” on phone surveillance of allied heads of state, the Los Angeles Times reports. And claims that the president was unaware of the eavesdropping have angered intelligence officials who believe “the president has cast them adrift” as he tries to distance himself from persisting disclosures. More: http://goo.gl/P4Wk9P

— WILL IT STOP?: Senate Intel Chief and NSA defender Dianne Feinstein chastised the surveillance reports Monday, insisted the White House was stopping its actions and promised her committee would undergo a “major review” of intelligence collection programs. But a senior administration official disputed late Monday that anything has stalled. More from POLITICO’s Josh Gerstein: http://goo.gl/59SBtH

— THE FALLOUT IN THE HOUSE AND SENATE: The House Intel panel has called in Alexander, DNI James Clapper, DOJ's James, Cole and NSA's Chris Inglis for a 1:30 p.m. hearing focused entirely on "potential changes to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act." Expect the open session to spark more questions on the NSA's eavesdropping of more than three dozen world leaders.

— On the other side of the Hill, Feinstein's panel will convene a closed session to mark up her FISA reform legislation. The vote takes place on the heels of her attack against the administration’s overseas surveillance. While Feinstein’s reform bill hasn’t been released, she has spoken publicly about the importance of preserving and rewiring existing bulk collection authorities. The senator mentioned at a hearing earlier this year that her bill would close a gap that prevents surveillance of so-called roamers — non U.S.-persons who enter the country and remain here. She also has suggested Senate confirmation of the NSA chief.

— Feinstein's bill may represent a departure from the proposal that Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner and Sen. Patrick Leahy plan to release today. The bill makes changes to the FISA court and ends bulk collection. More: http://politi.co/1axH5Ab

— EUROPEANS FUME HERE IN D.C.: Prominent EU officials are in town this week to speak at several events that will no doubt hit on overseas surveillance. It's a double header: Special rapporteurs Jan Albrecht and Claude Moraes join FTC Commissioner Julie Brill to discuss data and trust at an 8 a.m. event with the European Institute. Top European Commission VP Viviane Reding speaks at the Center for Transatlantic Relations at 10 a.m.

Happy Tuesday and welcome to Morning Tech, where we’re delighted to welcome our new colleague — former Comm Daily reporter and oil-painter extraordinaire Erin Mershon. The Midwest native — who was worked her way around Washington with stints at National Journal, Roll Call, the Huffington Post and Politifact — will focus on tech’s interests at the FTC and DOJ. Welcome her to the team: emershon@politico.com or @ eemershon. Don’t forget to contact your day’s MTer at jmeyers@politico.com or @ jessicameyers and find the rest of the team’s info below the jump.

INFOSYS SLAPPED WITH RECORD FINE — The U.S is about to hit Indian outsourcing company Infosys with the largest immigration fine ever, The Wall Street Journal reports. Officials are expected to fine the popular software exporter $35 million Wednesday for allegedly placing workers on visitor rather than work visas. The penalty comes amid an immigration debate over whether skilled foreign workers displace American employees because they are cheaper. More: http://on.wsj.com/1gWXcyx

** A message from POWERJobs: Mark your calendars! Join POWERJobs on Twitter this Wednesday, Oct. 30 at 12 p.m. to discuss the do’s and don’ts of networking. Join the conversation using the hashtag #POWERChat.**

WHEELER NOMINATION MOVING FORWARD? — Sen. Harry Reid kicked the FCC chairman process into gear Monday night by invoking cloture on Tom Wheeler, the White House’s pick to run the agency. But there’s still the matter of Sen. Ted Cruz, who placed a hold on the venture capitalist over questions about the expansion of political advertising disclosures. Cruz and Wheeler still plan to meet Tuesday, which may prove enough for the senator to lift his hold, Brooks Boliek reports. Only now Sen. Lindsey Graham is threatening to block all nominees until he gets answers on Benghazi. The FCC insists it won’t let the hold politics get in the way of the incentive auctions. More from Brooks: http://goo.gl/CkRsTJ

W.H. PUTS CYBER BACK ON THE DOCKET — President Barack Obama plays host today to tech, defense, finance and other CEOs, as the administration tries to sell companies and critical infrastructure representatives on voluntary cybersecurity standards. A draft version of those guidelines, prepped and released by NIST last week, has a way to go before they're finalized. But Obama is trying to lay the groundwork for industry adoption, especially without any congressional mandate requiring power plants, water systems and others to make much-needed cyber improvements. For now, the administration has declined to reveal meeting participants.

CONTINENT SWAP: US CONSUMER GROUPS HEAD TO EU — Leading U.S. and EU consumer organizations will meet in Brussels today to evaluate the EU-US trade negotiations — with privacy, data protection and e-commerce digital rights topping the agenda. The event will feature a keynote by FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez as well as speeches by EU and USTR officials. The consumer groups will announce the adoption of two resolutions that reinforce their desire to keep data flow out of the talks and increase scrutiny over online advertisers.

HOUSE JUDICIARY GOES BACK TO PATENTS — House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte will talk up his patent reform bill this morning, which aims to address patent litigation issues that stem from so-called "patent trolls." Former USPTO Director David Kappos is expected to testify that he has reservations about the bill’s provisions, especially the covered business method expansion. The controversial provision would broaden a program for reviewing certain patents. This marks a contrast from current Deputy Director Teresa Stanek Rea, who said last week the administration supports the idea. EMC Corporation’s Krish Gupta, Yahoo’s Kevin Kramer former Eli Lilly & Company general counsel Robert Armitage also will testify.

OH WAIT, THERE’S MORE — The Senate Commerce committee today will examine how to increase broadband adoption, the House Ways and Means Committee will grill CMS Administrator Marilyn Tavenner on the Healthcare.gov mishap and the House Homeland Security Committee will mark up it’s “Boots-on-the-Ground Act” related to identifying gaps in the cybersecurity workforce.

SPEED READ:

OBAMA MOVING CLOSER TO BAN ON ALLIED SPYING: Even consideration of doing so signals a shift for the NSA, which has rarely had its authority questioned, per The New York Times: http://nyti.ms/1gWICXK

APPLE’S DISMAL RESULTS: The company’s profits slide just before the holiday season, according to Reuters: http://reut.rs/19O3UAs

TECH TITANS NO LONGER HUNGRY FOR COOKIES: The country’s web giants say they are developing systems that bypass the pieces of code used to track users’ movements online, courtesy of The Wall Street Journal: http://on.wsj.com/193CYNI

MICROSOFT HAS OFFERED TO FIX HEATHCARE.GOV: Microsoft says it has offered assistance to the boggled website but has not provided any help yet, The Hill reports: http://goo.gl/u4WXf2

** A message from POWERJobs: New jobs on our radar this week: Support Engineer at Amazon, Lead Cyber Security Analyst at Evolver and Computer Engineer at Department of Defense. Interested? Apply to these jobs and more at www.POWERJobs.com. Powered by names you trust — POLITICO, WTOP, WJLA/ABC-TV, NewsChannel 8 and Federal News Radio — POWERJOBS has top-level job opportunities in the Washington area from the area’s most powerful employers. And mark your calendars for Wednesday, Oct. 30 at noon for a POWERJobs Twitter chat on the do’s and don’ts of networking. Join using the hashtag #POWERChat.**

Authors:

About The Author

Jessica Meyers is a technology reporter for POLITICO Pro. She comes to POLITICO from The Dallas Morning News, where she spent four years covering Texas politics, education and just about everything else. She covered transportation before joining the tech team.

Prior to that, she worked at The Spokesman-Review and American Journalism Review, freelanced for the San Francisco Chronicle and The Washington Post, and assisted with a documentary about Gypsy culture in war-ravaged Kosovo.

Meyers earned her master’s degree at the University of California-Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism.

A native of the D.C. area, she returned with a fetish for marathons, the knowledge that cowboy boots really are that comfortable and solace that she’s back in a place where people talk as fast as she does.